


The Tale of Food Fantasy

by ChaoticXXHearts



Category: Food Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: AU that takes place hundreds of years later, Differences between food souls, Main storyline ain't here so no Rice, Multi, Nonbinary Character, One-Sided Attraction, One-Sided Relationship, Slice of Life, So many different pairings, Worldbuilding, too many characters to list - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-06 18:03:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15891216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticXXHearts/pseuds/ChaoticXXHearts
Summary: Hundreds of years after the main storyline of Food Fantasy, we take a look at the life of a young cooking attendant rarin' to go, intent on starting up their own restaurant and make it to five stars. With the help of many food souls and the company that made their dream possible, Althea will go through trials and tribulations in a world that is regaining its feet after the appearance of fallen angels oh so long ago. And, maybe, will discover many things that were not meant to be discovered...





	1. Welcome to the World of Restauranteering!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Current Cast This Episode: Althea K. Diego, Coffee, Sandon Charles
> 
> Food Fantasy and its characters belong to Elex, I own nothing.

Gloriville, the food nation of the world. The place where dreams are made and where you can open your own restaurant and risk it all to be the best restaurant there was... _if_ you were a cooking attendant. You see, cooking attendants have power running in their veins, the power to summon food souls. These food souls are mainly used to work with their cooking attendant, whether it be working at some job with them or going out to fight fallen angels and gathering ingredients that seemed to be in abundance out in the wild. With the combined efforts of food souls and cooking attendants, they can quickly climb up the ranks to form the best restaurant there ever was. 

Althea K. Diego knew this, but it all seemed surreal that they would be offered a restaurant away from their homeland of Sakurajima. Turned out Gloriville was a lot different than they expected and if it hadn’t been for their food soul, they wouldn’t have been able to make it at the appointed time. And now they were sitting down, listening to this man talk while they stared down at a pile of documents that would seal their fate of forever owning a restaurant. They wore a frown underneath their teapot mask as they stared, fiddling with the ends of their blue scarf and occasionally flipping pages as they continued to listen to finance and safety regulations that came with it. They were never really good at such topics so they were at a complete loss for words when it came to earning a restaurant. And yet, every cooking attendant needed a restaurant, or so it seemed, so why not them as well?

“You’ve been quiet for an awfully long time,” a food soul behind them quipped, eyeing them behind dark sunglasses, “Do you want me to take over, Master Attendant?” Althea quickly shook their head.

“No, I was just listening and reading these documents,” they said as they flipped to another page. Looking down, it seemed to be the last one.

“That’s a first, most people rush through with the agreements and end up doing poorly because of it,” the businessman before them said with a smile.

“I like reading, whether it’s an essay or a novel,” they replied simply as their brown eyes scanned the document. The corners of their eyes crinkled slightly as they smiled underneath the mask. “And these documents are very interesting.” There was a pause before the man laughed.

“Well, that’s a good thing! Wouldn’t want someone who hasn’t been educated in the workplace, right?”

“Mhm!” With a sigh, the cooking attendant flipped the page to find that there was no back and then put everything back in place. “Better start filling these out.”

“Oh! Incidentally, where did you meet your Coffee? Was it through a summoning portal or perhaps the old fashioned way where you used a magic crystal and some on- er, soul embers, to power the summoning process?” They let out a sharp bark of laughter as they continued to fill out the paperwork.

“It’s quite a story, Mr. Charles. I always wanted my own food soul after discovering that it was possible for me to do so without a summoning portal. I gathered a magic crystal and the amount of soul embers needed in a summoning over a couple of years, hard to get in Sakurajima and all. Then I made a cup of mocha and boiled the concoction over the soul embers with the magic crystal inside.” The businessman’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“...Never heard of a summoning happening like that before.”

“I didn’t know how it worked! In any case, I thought I was doing something wrong when all my soul embers were gone and no one appeared. I then took the crystal and drank the coffee and, well, Coffee appeared after that.”

“If I remember correctly, I appeared before you and asked why you were drinking a cup of coffee after putting a magic crystal in it. And then you spit out your drink all over me,” he said with a chuckle, causing everyone else in the room to laugh.

“I was surprised! I didn’t expect for it to be done correctly after that! And hey, at least I gave you a fresh change of clothes to wear!”

“Alright, alright, enough you two. Please fill out these documents so we can give you the necessary food souls to get started.” They stopped writing for a moment and looked up in surprise.

“I can get to summon more food souls?” they asked.

“A beginner’s package, if you will. All cooking attendants forming a restaurant under various guilds and companies in Gloriville are given this beginner’s package in order to get started. You don’t expect to hire just anybody if you want to own a restaurant by yourself, right?” Pause.

“...What about the people working that need jobs? Don’t they matter too?”

“Oh don’t worry about them, there are plenty of other jobs for them beside restaurant work,” Mr. Charles said with a snort, waving it all off. Althea had a troubled expression underneath their mask as they continued to sign and fill out information, albeit a little slower this time. Coffee remained in his place with his arms crossed, watching their cooking attendant with a small smile. A few minutes later, all the documents were filled out and Mr. Charles was tapping them against the desk to even them out. “Wonderful. I’ll take you to the summoning portal owned by our company so we can get started,” he said as he stood up and placed the documents in his suitcase, “Follow me, Attendant.”

“Yes sir!” Althea quickly got up and nearly tripped getting out of the chair, causing Coffee to place a steady hand on them.

“Careful, Master Attendant,” he said smoothly as he stepped back, allowing them to move. With a nod and a careful adjustment of the mask, the two of them followed after the businessman and made their way to the car. The cooking attendant couldn’t help but marvel at the vehicle that was shiny, black, and very long as they entered in the back while Mr. Charles took the wheel. As the engine revved up and they started rolling out of the garage, the cooking attendant remained silent as they glanced out the window. No one talked for several minutes until Coffee spoke. “Master Attendant? Are you happy?” he asked, wiping his sunglasses clean.

“Huh? What?”

“All of this, are you happy with it?” They turned away from the window for a moment to look at their food soul.

“Well, aren’t you happy? You wanted to do this ever since we got the letter, right? I still think Mother had something to do with it after I summoned you, it happened so fast…” They mumbled something under their breath before rubbing the back of their head, ruffling short brown hair. “If it weren’t for your desire, then I would’ve stayed in Sakurajima, blissfully unaware. Not going anywhere in life and all…”

“Don’t be like that. This is a new chapter in your life, one that will bring trials and tribulations. But we will survive. We will thrive. And we will be together every step of the way,” he murmured as he took his attendant’s hand and squeezed it. Althea’s eyes crinkled into a smile.

“Yeah...I hope so.” The rest of the ride was quiet as they made their way to their destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally the first chapter is up! I've been wanting to submit it for quite some time now but I was too lazy to do it. At least it's up now! In any case, this is just an introductory post to this epic that's going to span many chapters. How many chapters, I'm not sure, but hopefully I can write it all and post on a consistent schedule! I usually have trouble writing chaptered stories due to being unmotivated to write them so hopefully this won't fall in the gutter like many before it. Either way, Althea is a very quirky cooking attendant and I hope I was able to portray that somewhat. Hope you enjoy!


	2. Summoning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Althea K. Diego summons the first food souls to help start out their career.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Current Cast This Episode: Althea K. Diego, Coffee, Sandon Charles, Milk, Hawthorn Ball, Sandwich, Crepe, Tom Yum, Brownie, Zongzi, Black Tea
> 
> Food Fantasy and its characters belong to Elex. I own nothing

A shiny black car pulled up to a rather giant looking building, looking more like a giant shrine to the food gods more than anything. Once the car was parked in a filled up parking lot, three people stepped out: a businessman, a Coffee, and a strange person wearing a teapot mask over their face with a blue scarf wrapping around their neck as they peered at the building curiously, brown eyes shining in wonder. It took Coffee’s nudging to bring them back to reality and follow after the businessman.

“As you can see,” Mr. Charles began to say as they entered the shrine-like building, “Our company makes sure to provide only the best to the cooking attendants we support, though it’s not just them that come here. Cooking attendants from all over Hilena come to this particular establishment to summon food souls of all sorts, some rare, some ultra rare, some even mundane! It all depends on luck and whether you get the food soul’s attention.”

“Ultra rare?” Althea mouthed before remembering they were wearing a mask, “Er, ultra rare? Coffee, what…?”

“Food souls have different rankings based on rarity,” he whispered as they eyed the people going to various portals yellow portals with a strange glow coming from them, “Rares are actually...the most common, while mundane are as rare as ultra rare. It’s rare to summon food souls, that’s why they’re labeled as rare, if you were about to ask.”

“Oh.” Pause. “That’s really confusing.” Their eyes lit up. “By the way, what rank are you? Ultra rare? Mundane?”

“I’m only a rare, I’m afraid.” Coffee frowned when they noticed their cooking attendant’s shoulders slump a little.

“Oh.”

“...And that is the history of how this place was founded! Now, Attendant…” They immediately straightened up when they were addressed to before gasping in awe at the portal they arrived at. “Are you ready? I already have the necessary shards for the summoning, so we can begin whenever you are ready.”

“What are shards?” they blurted out. The businessman shot him a glare.

“Were you not paying attention?”

“Uh…”

“In any case, are you ready to summon the food souls?” Coffee butted in, immediately sensing the tension.

“Y-Yeah, of course! Can I see?” The businessman harrumphed before pulling out a large pouch. Althea’s eyes widened when they saw the man dump a bunch of magic crystal shards, food placed into plastic containers and thermoses for transportation, and soul embers onto the altar before them. “Whoa…”

“Oh, this? Don’t worry, all of our cooking attendants come with a state of the art magic pouch, capable of holding infinite ingredients and other miscellaneous items within,” he said as he finished sorting everything together into different piles of shards and food items and stepped aside, “Now, begin summoning. I want to see how well you do.”

“Alright.” The cooking attendant took a deep breath and walked to one of the thermoses, taking 150 soul embers and placing them on the on the crystal shards. Taking a deep breath, they poured a little of the substance, which turned out to be milk, onto the soul embers, which seemed to fizzle out and shrink in size. Everyone waited tensely for a reaction. “...Nothing happened,” they sighed before straightening themselves, “Coffee, is this one going to pull a you?”

“You do realize there’s a button that allows you to summon the food soul from the portal, correct?” Mr. Charles chuckled as the cooking attendant did a double take at him.

“Oh! Uh, where’s the button? I’m assuming I throw in the shards and-”

“Ah, you’re...” They jumped in the air at the whisper, dropping the thermos and spilling its contents partially when it hit the ground.

“Oh dear, I’ll clean that up, in the meantime, Master Attendant, attend to-” Coffee’s eyes widened behind his sunglasses when he spotted the petite figure behind his cooking attendant. “...Milk,” he finished tersely before getting on his knees and cleaning up the mess. Althea, meanwhile, studied the young woman, or late teenager rather, and reached out to touch her horns that were curving outwards more like a bull’s than curving upwards like a cow’s. She flinched and backed away from the hand with a troubled expression on her face.

“Can you not touch my horns? They are very troublesome to maintain,” she said quietly as her eyes fixated on Coffee for a moment.

“Oh! Sorry!” they said and withdrew their hand, “Uh...better summon the rest. How many are there?” They turned to look over at the businessman who was gaping comically.

“...Well, at least you were able to summon her through a rather...unorthodox method,” he said slowly as he gestured to a large panel, “In any case, here’s the button. Just place your hand on it and the portal will recognize your essence and will to summon.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you!” Taking some candied hawthorn, the shards that went with it, and some more soul embers, they tossed everything into the portal and went over to the button to press it. The minute they laid their hands on it, a large flame burst in the middle, surrounded by a magic circle. They gasped in surprise. “Whoa!” As the hum grew louder and louder, a small figure stepped out of it, carrying a giant stick of hawthorn balls behind her. She looked around before her eyes fell on them.

“Was it you who has summoned me?” she asked with wide, innocent eyes.

“Uh...yeah,” they replied quietly, still shocked by what just happened. She grinned.

“I guess that makes us partners then! Oh! Are you new? Am I with someone else?” Her head jerked towards Milk when she made a small noise. “Oooh, I am!” Althea’s eyes crinkled behind their mask.

“Yeah, and there’s more, hold on!” Taking a sandwich next, they threw everything into the portal like before and pressed the button again. Once more the portal burst into a giant flame with a magic circle surrounding it and hummed with life, before a boy stepped out of the portal, eyes trained on them for a moment before his eyes landed on the girl.

“Hey! Hawthorn Ball, right? Would you like to play a game of luck and skill? I’m always ready!” he asked, causing her to turn her attention to the boy.

“Oooh, yes! But I wanna see who else comes out too. Oooh, what should I do?” Coffee stood up after cleaning the mess on the floor and looked at the altar.

“Well, they are...interesting. Quite young. Are you sure it’s alright to-?”

“Oh yes, don’t worry, they’re the standard!” The two food soul children looked at the businessman as if noticing him for the first time.

“Standard? Like standard issued cards?” the boy asked. The cooking attendant paid no mind to the chatter and continued to toss the next food item into the portal, a crepe. The girl who came out this time was also quite young as she held a fan to her face imperiously. 

“You should feel honored by the arrival of this young lady. Has the welcome ceremony been prepared?” she asked before looking over at the other children. She frowned. “...Hardly the welcome party I expected.” The crinkles around the cooking attendant’s eyes disappeared as they frowned underneath the mask.

“Ew…” they mouth before taking a bowl of some kind of soup and the shards before dumping them and the soul embers into it. The embers immediately disappeared, something they didn’t pay attention to as they threw the contents into the portal. But when they pressed the button, nothing happened.

“Wha? Wait…” They frowned as they pressed the button again. Nothing seemed to have happened other than the slight humming, not even when they pressed the button again.

“Oh, I suggest you don’t do that. You’re wasting soul embers like that, this portal can tell if you have them nearby and pressing it too many times uses them up,” Mr. Charles explained. They snapped their attention to him in alarm.

“Why didn’t you tell me before I pressed it three times?!”

“I certainly wasn’t expecting this when being summoned.” They jumped in the air and immediately dropped the bowl to the ground, causing Coffee to sigh.

“I’ll clean it,” he said as he made his way over to the bowl.

“Oh no, allow me, sir,” a black young man said as he went over to the bowl on the floor. A gloved hand carefully lifted it up as he took a handkerchief in his other hand and and wiped the floor. Althea continued to look at the businessman’s now shocked face in puzzlement.

“...What? Well it seems I got…” They turned around to count the new food souls in the area. “...One, two, three new food souls now. Did I summon an ultra rare or something?” He quickly shut his mouth and shook his head.

“No, not at all. You summoned Brownie without a prompt from our company. Normally we give shards for Brownie that will allow you to summon him first hand, but you seemed to have summon him without us. I’ll let my colleagues know that you’ll be given shards instead.” He smiled wryly before looking at the altar. “In any case, you have one more to summon. I do believe Milk and her will get along.”

“Alright.” They went to grab the thermos left behind and tossed in the shards and soul embers before splashing black tea into the portal and making their way to the large button. This time, they noticed that the flame returned and was humming with energy, shimmering with unknown power. Soon enough, a woman walked primly out of the portal, the veil on her her hat swaying with movement. One look at them and she began to frown mightily.

“Are you the one who summoned me?” she asked. They nodded and she grunted in acknowledgment. “So that I have no regrets, I will achieve my goals at all costs. Do you understand, Master Attendant?” They stared at her, dumbfounded.

‘Um...sort of? Um, I don’t...really get abstract concepts,” the cooking attendant chuckled sheepishly as they turned to look at the other food soul, dressed in what seemed to be in a blue kimono and carrying a sword, “I think the black one is Brownie, but I’m not quite sure who you are.”

“Zongzi. It seems that you are my Master Attendant,” he said as he bowed politely, “I pledge to follow you until the end of my days.” They just stared at him.

“You mean till the end of mine, I think I you all will outlive me by miles,” they deadpanned.

“Alright, that’s enough. Oh dear, you have no oni- soul embers left,” the businessman harrumphed as he began to gather the empty plates and thermoses, “I should probably take you all to your new establishment. Shall we go?”

“Oh! Right! Come on everybody, let’s go!” With quiet murmurings, the group began to make their way out the summoning place, with their cooking attendant eager to see the restaurant with their very own eyes. They remained in the back with Coffee and gently squeezed his hand, causing the food soul to smile a little as they set off onto the new establishment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long, but the second chapter is up! I...didn't find the motivation to write or even post anything up. OTL At least it's up now, and it just basically shows summoning. Althea has a really unorthodox way of summoning food souls as you can see. And on top of that, I imagine each food soul to be different in looks somewhat. For instance, there could be a male food soul who is from a mainly female food soul while here, in Milk's case, her horns resemble Steak's horns. I plan on having Steak's horns stick straight up when I get to him! Also, I don't exactly remember who my first food souls were after I got Tom Yum and Black Tea, so I winged it somewhat. I assumed Coffee was my first, hence why he is with Althea in the beginning. Then I think I had...Brownie and Zongzi? Don't remember, haha! In any case, just a short chapter with not much plot, but we'll get to the restaurant itself soon! Hope you enjoy!


End file.
